‘Barcelona don’t depend on me’ – Lionel Messi

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Lionel Messi has denied that Barcelona is too dependent on him.

The La Liga club has struggled to produce their typically fluent football without the Argentine. Messi, who missed last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Malaga, scored twice on his return to the team as they beat Celtic 2-0 on Wednesday in the Champions League.

“I don’t consider talk of Barca being Messi-dependent to be praise or a concern because it’s not the case,” the 29-year-old said at an event in Barcelona on Thursday.

“I’m in the best team in the world, [Barca] don’t depend on one player.”

Barcelona travel to Real Sociedad on Sunday, who they have not beaten away from home since 2007. Messi says they have to be prepared.

“Anoeta is a complicated stadium where we haven’t won in years,” he added.

“[La Real] always make things tough for us there and it’s going to be a hard game.

“In football these days it’s important to be organised. To have a team that is well-organised is the most important thing. To have a good team everything starts there.”